Stay Tuned: Taking another look at death row convictions on ‘The Last Defense’

Melissa Crawley More Content Now

Tuesday

Jun 26, 2018 at 10:01 AMJun 26, 2018 at 10:01 AM

“The Last Defense” explores the justice system through two death row cases. Using different perspectives, it carefully lays out the crime, the evidence, the trial and the fight against the verdict. It’s a pattern familiar to many true crime shows, designed to put us in the position of a juror weighing the evidence. Opening once shut cases, the show has a distinct point of view that challenges us to question how justice is served.

In 1997, Darlie Routier was stabbed in her home along with her two young sons. Darlie survived. Her boys did not. Routier’s story of an intruder did not sway police who arrested her for the crime and it didn’t convince a jury. She was sentenced to death and remains on death row in Texas. “The Last Defense” focuses on Routier’s case and the case of Julius Jones, an African-American college student who received the death penalty for the 2001 carjacking murder of a white father of two. Both Darlie and Julius maintain their innocence.

The series begins with Routier’s case and uses personal stories, home video footage, crime scene photos and interviews with family, friends and investigators to lay out the details of the crime. There are interesting arguments made on both sides. In episode two, we learn that the original defense attorney did not call expert witnesses to challenge the prosecution’s forensic conclusions. Yet, for every flaw that the current defense team insists lead to a wrongful conviction, there is a counterpoint by the prosecution that suggests Routier lied and was the true murderer. One reporter who has spent years investigating the case says that it’s “one event with 100 different perspectives.” Competing perspectives are the hook of a true crime series and “The Last Defense” is immediately intriguing as it moves between point and counterpoint.

In the case of Routier, the show suggests that her trial, coming one year after the conviction of Susan Smith who lied about killing her children and was found guilty, may have played a significant role in how the jurors viewed Routier. It’s a stark reality of the justice system that a death penalty decision could possibly come down to a feeling 12 of your fellow citizens have about you.

The idea of Smith’s case influencing Routier’s is hard to prove but “The Last Defense” takes a side. While Executive Producer Viola Davis (“How to Get Away With Murder”) says that it’s the show’s job to present the case and the viewer’s job “to say or to do whatever you will with it,” the series sheds light on significant inconsistencies during Routier’s (and Jones’) trial that lay the foundation for reasonable doubt.

“The Last Defense” is a well-paced, well-edited docuseries that depicts the flaws in the criminal justice system. With raw emotional moments, like Routier’s chilling screams of “Who would do this?!” during her 911 call, it serves as a reminder that the people behind sensational crime headlines could be victims as easily as they could be villains.

“The Last Defense” is on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. EDT on ABC.— Melissa Crawley is the author of “Mr. Sorkin Goes to Washington: Shaping the President on Television’s ‘The West Wing.’” She has a Ph.D. in media studies and is a member of the Television Critics Association. To comment on Stay Tuned, email her at staytuned@outlook.com or follow her on Twitter at @MelissaCrawley.